I’ve always been a big believer in music as one of the most powerful creative forces – it can heal, inspire, and unite instantaneously.
Kayo Marbilus is a young Canberra emcee whose passionate love for hip-hop is not only bolstering the Canberra hip-hop scene, but ripping it up in the community as well.
Kayo turned to expressing himself through rhyme to deal with the racism and ignorance in his own adolescence. His craft is coming full circle, as he now runs hip-hop workshops for young Canberra kids between the ages of 12 and 16, showing them how they can channel their energies creatively through workshops on lyrical expression, techniques, and self-confidence. Kayo knows from his own experiences how positive making a bit of noise can be. "High school was the hardest time of my life because I was fighting in the schoolyard defending my culture. It didn't make things easy, and I had a lot of anger for a 15 year old. Putting the pen to paper helped me generate that negative energy into a rhyme. Now, eight years later, I'm writing in a more mature manner with awareness of what's going on around me."
His style is unique and blatantly loyal to the Canberra scene. He released ‘Canberra Stand Up, tha mix tape’, which features all local artists, and was recorded and produced locally.
What does hip-hop mean to you?
Hip-hop is life and an every day thing.
What are your songs about? What issues are close to your heart?
The things we go through in life personally, the things that affect those around us, such as family, and friends. Looking at the bigger picture in life, time is short. Holding your ground and shouting for what you believe in.
When did you first begin to write?
At the age of 15.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
Doing bad things with bad people in a bad place.
When did you move to Australia? How much of an impact does your Ghanaian heritage have on your music?
I moved here when I was two, and took a trip back when I was twenty-two. It was then my music really changed a lot more on an emotional level and really matured.
What do you think of Australian hip-hop, compared to American hip-hop?
They are two different cultures in such a large way, so in saying that, the two styles speak on different issues. But with hip-hop coming from the US we gotta give props on the impact it has had on an international/global scale.
Tell us about your hip-hop workshops?
The workshops are for at-risk youth between 12 to 16 within North Canberra, at high schools, and are run during the school term. But right now, I’m running a hip-hop workshop on weekends for Sudanese youth who are new to Canberra. It provides and links them with community services and agencies to help them with their daily needs.
How do you find the recording process?
Fun and full of energy, when you have that hard work on paper you just can’t wait to lay it down and hear the finished product.
Describe the Canberra hip-hop scene.
Not as large as other major cities, so we’re the under-dogs with so much talent. A few artists down here are actually very well known main stream and would have no problem getting signed to a major record deal.
Do you have any plans to move?
The sky is the limit so I’ll go and be where the music takes me.
The hip-hop/rapping culture can sometimes be viewed as violent and/or misogynistic. Do you think this is true?
Depends on who you are as an artist and what you have seen or been through. A lot of people seem to glorify American gangster rap and write about things that are not true, but some people base their music on what they know. We also have to understand that hip-hop has saved a lot of lives and a lot of artists in the US and even in Australia - they may have been dead, in jail or in a very bad state if it wasn’t for the music they make. At the end of the day if you hear something you don’t like, change the channel or the radio, or go for a walk.
